


Blowing Up In Your Face

by afteriwake



Series: Unpredictable [3]
Category: CSI: NY, House M.D.
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had all been like a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blowing Up In Your Face

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **7_crossovers** Theme Set #2 ( _Cliches_ ), prompt #7 (" _Go For The Kill_ ").

"You know, it couldn't hurt for someone else to come up there, you know."

Danny raked his hand through his hair. One of the nurses had offered to let him call into the lab from the nurses station so he could keep his brother in sight. Word had gotten around the hospital that the reason Danny was always in his brother's room was because _something_ had happened in New York to him, and Danny didn't want it to happen again. "Look, Stell--"

"Mac said that if he hadn't brought up a suit you would have gone to court in the same clothes you'd been wearing the last few days."

"I brought some more clothes."

"Yeah? How much?"

"Another day's worth," he said.

Stella sighed. "Look, who knows their way around you apartment?"

"Flack," he said quickly. "But he's at Trinity, so that doesn't do much good."

"Where's your spare key?"

"How did you know I have one?"

" _Everyone_ in the labs has one. I don't think you'd be an exception to that."

"Mac's got it. How do you think he got me my suit?"

"Fine. I'll swing by at lunch and get some stuff. I can't bring it up, but Angell can. She knows Jersey like no one else in the department."

"Okay," Danny said, giving up the fight. "Can you grab a book or something for me, too? There's nothing for me to do around here, really, and since I don't want to leave him alone..."

"How about two or three? You don't know how long you'll be up there."

"That's the truth."

"Anything in particular?"

"Anything but the John Grisham books. I think I've read those so often I've memorized lines."

Stella chuckled. "How many books do you _have_ , Danny?"

"More than you probably realize," he said with a small smile. "I gotta go, Stella. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Hey, that reminds me. Hawkes and Lindsay told me to tell you to call them if you want to talk. They're worried about you, too. And Mac said he'll get Flack to call once he's up to it, though I hear our favorite detective just wants to get the hell home, so he'll probably call you tonight."

"Can't use my cell phone in here, but if he leaves a number I'll call him back as soon as I can leave Louie alone."

"I'll send Angell up with his number. She can watch your brother so you can call Flack."

"Sounds good."

"Anyway, I'll let you go. You take care of yourself, too, or I'll be up there spitting out Greek before you can even blink."

Danny laughed and hung up the phone. It meant a lot to him that the team actually cared about him. Meant a lot more than he'd thought it would. He might take Hawkes or Lindsay up on their offers to talk when Angell got there, after he got a hold of Flack. 

He heard someone clear their throat and turned to see a dark haired doctor in front of him. He vaguely recognized her as someone who he'd seen Dr. Cameron around with, and then it hit him that she was the woman he'd talked to while Louie got settled in, but for the life of him he couldn't remember her name. "Yeah?"

"Dr. Cameron asked me to check your brother's vitals," the woman said in a warm voice. "I'm Dr. Lisa Cuddy." Danny nodded. "I figured I'd tell you I was doing it before--"

"Dr. Cuddy!" one of the nurses said. "There's a phone call for you. It's Dr. House."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Tell him to wait a minute and I'll get back to him."

"He's being pretty insistent."

"He's _always_ being insistent. Just hang up on him, and if he calls back, keep hanging up on him until I'm done and _I_ can hang up on him." She turned back to Danny. "Sorry about that. House is..."

"A pain in the ass?" Danny supplied.

Cuddy looked at him, and then a smile crept onto her face. "Yes, I suppose he is." She motioned for Danny to follow her into his brother's room. "House is usually the one in charge of the diagnostics department, but he got injured and he's recuperating. It still doesn't keep him from being a thorn in my side, however."

"Can you watch my brother for a bit?" Danny asked suddenly. "I need to go get some more coffee. And maybe some real food."

Cuddy nodded. "You're very protective of him."

"Yeah, I guess I am." For some reason he didn't feel the need to snap at her the way he had at Dr. Cameron. Something about Dr. Cuddy's attitude was relaxed, more relaxed than Dr. Cameron's. "Thank you."

"You know, Cameron's trying her best," she said as if reading Danny's thoughts. "For some reason, this case is confusing all of us. If House was here, you'd probably be back in New York by now," she mused, more to herself than to him.

"Yeah, well, I'll keep that in mind," he said, giving the doctor a nod and heading towards the cafeteria. Or at least he thought he was; he couldn't find a directory anywhere nearby and the nurses were suddenly very busy. He wandered around until he saw two other familiar looking doctors in an office, both of their backs turned to the door. There was a third man in there as well, a man he didn't recognize.

He opened the door to ask them if they knew where he should go, but stopped as he heard their conversation.

"...and doesn't it seem odd that she keeps muttering to herself about what an ass he is after she leaves his brother's room?" the blonde doctor said. "Even when other patients or their families have annoyed her, she never gets _this_ annoyed with them."

"Chase, are you get the feeling maybe she's trying to save the brother, the way she does with any other guy she's been after?" the doctor he didn't recognize asked.

"Maybe," Chase replied. "Foreman...what do you think? Am I off the mark here?"

"I don't know," Foreman said, shrugging. He leaned back in his chair slightly. "House said something about her husband dying when she knew he was terminal, and she knew that before they got married. Maybe that has something to do with how she acts around men."

"That's all you can think of?" Chase asked. "Wilson, what do you think?"

"Maybe it's a psychological thing," Wilson said, also shrugging. "Or maybe not; maybe the guy annoys her more than any other patient or family member you've evre seen her deal with."

"If House was here, he'd be having a field day," Chase muttered.

He shut the door, absorbing what he'd heard. He turned to walk down the hall an saw Cameron looking at him, arms crossed in front of her and an angry look on her face. "So you're an eavesdropper."

"I just meant to ask them where the cafeteria was..."

"And yet you listened in on them talking about me." Her voice sounded cold. "I'm not deaf, and I could hear every word they said. You could have shut that door any time, and you didn't."

"Yeah, I didn't," Danny said defensively.

Her face turned red. "I swear to _God_ you are the most difficult man I've ever met! Half the time...no, _most_ of the time I just want to smack you." She didn't care that her voice was raised, not that Chase, Foreman and Wilson had turned around and were watching. She was pretty sure that they could hear what she was saying.

"Yeah? Well, you aren't exactly Miss Congeniality, either," he said, raising his voice at least as loud as hers. "Every time you go into Louie's room you pick a fight."

" _I_ pick a fight? Try _you_ picking a fight."

"I don't pick fights with you, _Dr._ Cameron. Hell, if I didn't have to talk to you at all, that'd make things easier."

She looked at him. "I'm not giving up this case."

"I don't care if you keep it or not, just don't bother me when I'm there. Have someone _else_ tell me what I need to know," he growled. He was standing ramrod straight, and the look he gave her clearly showed he was done with her. He stalked away in the direction of the elevator, just wanting to get the hell away from _her._

Part of him was pissed at her, yeah. Another part of him wondered why he was putting so much energy into fighting with her; once Louie was okay he'd be back in New York and he'd never have to deal with her again. He pushed the elevator button harder than he'd intended to.

Last person who'd ever gotten him to feel anything _remotely_ like this was Lindsay. _And look how that turned out,_ he thought to himself sourly. The elevator doors opened and he stepped in, casting one last look at the diagnostics office.

She wasn't there anymore, and for some completely inexplicable reason, he wondered if he hadn't pushed things too far.

\---

"Don't ever talk about me again," she said coldly. The three men stared at her in shock. When Cameron had opened the door after her near screaming match with Danny, none of them had been able to lift their jaws up off the floor before she ripped into them. If they thought what they'd seen outside was bad it was _nothing_ compared with what she'd let loose on them.

"Look, Cameron, we didn't intend for him to overhear," Chase said.

"We're worried you're just getting a little too involved in this case," Wilson added.

"That was still _my_ life you were talking about. And it has _nothing_ to do with my job." She stood across from them and planted her hands on the table. "I do not want you to even _think_ about speculating over my life away from this job, or my past, or anything else regarding me if you even _think_ I'll know about it. Understand?"

They nodded quickly; obviously, this was a very scary part of Cameron that they'd never seen before. Finished, she pulled away from the table and stalked out, heading to the women's locker room. When she got there, she grabbed the things she'd need for a shower and stripped out of her clothes. She wrapped her towel around herself and went into the showers, turning them on so that the water was almost blisteringly hot. She stepped in and cooled it off some, taking a moment to breathe in deeply.

 _They were right,_ she thought bitterly to herself. _And it makes me seems so messed up, so fucking transparent. I do go after men I can fix, and it's..._

And then she began to cry. She stayed under the warm water until the tears had been washed away, and then she quickly washed her hair and cleaned herself up. She didn't need to go out looking like the mess she felt she was.

\---

Hours later, fed and caffeinated, Danny stretched in the chair next to his brother. He was sore not only from the cot but from the long hours of sitting. Dr. Cameron hadn't come around for the last round of vitals; it was Dr. Chase that time, and he seemed rather sheepish. He was quiet for the most part and apologized to Danny for getting caught up in the middle things. Danny just nodded, too worn out from earlier to say anything.

There was a knock on the door. Both Chase and Danny looked up, and Danny suddenly grinned. "Surprise to see you here, Montana."

"Yeah, well, it was a surprise for me to get sent up here." Danny got up and took the book bag of his that Lindsay had slung on her shoulder away from her. "I guess Angell got wrapped up in something, so Stella handed these to me and told me not to get lost after she gave me directions."

"I almost got lost on my way up here."

"Then I must be better at following directions than you are." She turned and smiled at Chase, holding out her hand. "I'm Lindsay Monroe."

Danny opened his mouth to apologize for not giving an introduction, but Chase shook Lindsay's hand warmly. "Dr. Robert Chase," he said, letting go of her hand. "Friend of his?"

"Yeah. Co-worker, too." She turned her smile to Danny. "Speaking of friends and co-workers, Stella wrote down Flack's number. He said if you didn't call he's checking himself out and coming up here to hurt you."

Danny chuckled as Lindsay reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to him. "I'll call him. If he checked himself out too early, his mother would skin me alive."

"She can't be that bad."

"You ever met his mother? He may not be a mama's boy, but she's overprotective as hell. Only reason she's okay with him being a cop is because his dad lived through being one." He grinned slightly. "Guess I should go and call him, right?"

"Maybe you should get some fresh air, first. You look...tired. Among other things."

"Naw, I'm okay."

"No, you're not," Lindsay said in the ton of voice he'd gotten used to when she wanted to get her way. "Look...we're all worried about you."

"Stella told me that much on the phone."

"Yeah, but Stella isn't here to see it. If she was, she'd march you outside and _make_ you take a break. Don't worry; I'll stay here with your brother."

He nodded, giving her what he intended to be a brief hug before he walked out the door. Instead, she hugged him a lot longer than he had intended, and he had to admit it felt nice. It was comforting. But it didn't feel like anything else other than those two things. With that realization, he knew nothing was ever going to happen to them other than being friends.

He looked up and saw Dr. Cameron talking with Dr. Cuddy by the nurses station, and he decided to bypass the two women and try and find someone who could tell him where he could get some air and make a call.

He saw one of the doctors who'd been in the room when they were talking about Dr. Cameron. "Hey, wait a second."

Wilson looked up, slightly nervous as the detective came up to him. "Yes?"

"Is there anyplace I can make a call around here and get some air?"

"The roof," he said tentatively. He pointed to a set of stairs. "Just take those to the top."

"Thanks." Danny headed off to the stairs and Wilson exhaled deeply. He was thankful the man hadn't asked any more questions, because he didn't want to have to deal with Cameron they way she was earlier _ever_ again.


End file.
